Seeing that T.J. Klune's In the Lives of Puppets was nominated in the Best Science Fiction category in the Goodreads Choice Awards made me wish that I had read it earlier. The premise is certainly interesting enough: Any story that involves someone making a home and a life in an actual treehouse will always make me curious. And an adventure throughout a futuristic landscape means a look at a different kind of world, this one mostly inhabited by robots.
The Situation: Victor Lawson and his family live a safe and quiet existence in their home in the trees. As the only human, Victor is aware that he is not like the rest of his family. His inventor father, Gio, is an android; Nurse Ratchet is indeed a nurse robot, even though she also has a dark sense of humor and a strange desire to use her drill; and Rambo is a vacuum obsessed with cleaning, as well as approval. One of Victor's favorite things to do is visit the scrap yard, though he knows that it is against the rules, and dangerous, even though that is how he finds his next robot to salvage and repair, just as he did with Nurse Ratchet and Rambo. But when Victor does the same for Hap, it changes everything, and suddenly, his home in the forest is not so safe anymore.
The Problem: Victor could not have known that fixing Hap would lead to his father being taken lead away by robot authorities. Perhaps if Gio had told his son the truth about what happened a long time ago, and also about his connection to Hap, this could have been avoided. But the remaining group, including Hap, will now have to make their way out of the forest, and travel farther than Victor ever thought he would go, if they hope to save Gio from a possible reprogramming. Victor also must deal with his conflicting feelings regarding Hap, and whether or not he can trust this newest addition to his small family.
Genre, Themes, History: This is a novel that I have chosen to place under the category of science fiction. This is also the category in which it was nominated for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards, although many readers have placed it under the category of fantasy. Victor is at the center of the story, with Gio is the real leader, though his disappearance is what leads the rest of the group to take on the adventure. And while Gio is not human, Victor still refers to him as his father, while Nurse Ratchet and Rambo are his best friends and part of the 'family.' It is clear that something big went down between the humans and robots many years ago, and in order for the adventure to be successful, the group will have to be careful.
My Verdict: The book starts at the beginning, when Gio finds himself with a young human in his care, at a time when it looks like a conflict between humans and machines is at its peak. From there, a strange world is built full of treehouses, talking vacuums, and scrap yards full of threats, despite the hidden treasures that can also be found there. And when the adventure begins, Klune shows readers a world that is both recognizable and unfamiliar. Nearly each different type of robot or machine is also given its own personality, and Victor must rely on his own robot friends in order to navigate a world he has only known a small part of. It is imaginative and creative, while also being thought-provoking and insightful, with a great amount of humor.
Favorite Moment: For the most part, Rambo is annoying. To everyone. But he is the character that made me laugh the most, and his moments of redemption are the most satisfying.
Favorite Character: It is a tie between Nurse Ratchet and Rambo. Their relationship certainly feels like a big sister/annoying little brother type of dynamic, and the contrast between Nurse Ratchet's brutal sense of humor, and Rambo's desperation for attention and validation, only adds to the humor. Nurse Ratchet is also clearly the smartest of the group of adventurers, while Rambo is the one most likely to get them all killed.
Favorite Quote: "Your flaws is what makes you superior, in all ways. No matter what machines do, no matter how powerful we become, it is the absence of flaws that will be our undoing. How can this existence survive when all machine-made things are perfect down to a microscopic detail? When all machine-made music is empty of rage and joy? Our only flaw is that we've condemned ourselves to spend eternity mimicking that which we deemed unfit to exist...We can never be you. Instead, we became your ghosts, and we'll haunt this world until there is nothing left."
Recommended Reading: I recommend Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.
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